Two young men have been charged with criminal damage after vandals smashed windows and pulled the emergency brakes on a packed commuter train at the height of the early-morning rush hour.

The two men, aged 18 and 19, were released on bail following a special sitting of the Kilcock District Court in Co Kildare yesterday.

They were arrested after two suspects allegedly began smashing the windows aboard the 5.40am train from Longford to Dublin yesterday using the steel-tipped emergency hammer located in one of the train's carriages.

The emergency brakes were allegedly pulled near Leixlip Louisa Bridge station, causing the train to automatically come to a stop about 200 metres from the station.

The train's driver restarted the train but the suspects allegedly pulled the brakes again, causing it to stop.

After gardai were alerted, the suspects fled the train and ran down the tracks, forcing Irish Rail to suspend all train services on the line.

COMMUTERS

Two suspects were eventually caught by gardai and arrested but not before commuters were left stranded for about 40 minutes before the line re-opened before 8am. An Irish Rail spokesman said "between the offenders and the gardai" there were a lot of people on the tracks as the situation developed.